1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ventilation system, and more particularly, a device for facilitating the delivery of medication/humidity to a patient without breaking a ventilator circuit.
When patients can no longer breathe on their own, there is a medical option of using a ventilator to keep the patient breathing. In many cases, a patient stops breathing when many organs within the body fail due to disease. This is normally the time of death, but in some cases, a patient may choose to be kept alive on a ventilator. In certain diseases, the patient is fully aware and conscious, but the muscles used for breathing no longer function properly. Diseases of the nervous system such as A.L.S. (Lou Gehrig's Disease) can eventually cause total inability to move any part of the body, even the muscles of breathing. Some A.L.S. patients choose to be placed on a ventilator in order to stay alive.
Though more commonly known as life support devices, ventilators today do more than merely keep patients alive. They promote patient comfort, aid recovery from surgery and other medical conditions, prolong life for people with certain neuromuscular diseases (such as Lou Gehrig's disease), and, in cases such as Reeve's, allow patients to live at home and lead as nearly normal lives as possible. Ventilators are used by people of all ages, from premature infants to adults, who have any number of health problems that for one reason or another impair their ability to breathe normally.
Ventilators perform one of the most complex functions of the body ventilation, a process in which the lungs take in and disperse oxygen the body needs and gather up and expel the carbon dioxide created as a result of body functions. In healthy people, this gas exchange takes place in the small air sacs of the lungs, called alveoli, and in the course of one day, normally involves 8,000 to 9,000 liters of air breathed in through the nose or mouth and 8,000 to 10,000 liters of blood pumped through the lungs by the heart.
The idea of mechanical ventilation is now new. Earnest efforts date to the mid 1800's, when devices resembling steam cabinets and phone booths were used to maintain breathing by decreasing the air pressure inside the machine. A well known device that applied this negative pressure principle was the iron lung, when was widely used in the United States from the late 1920's into the 1950's, particularly for polio patients. However, these devices were large, and they greatly restricted patient movement.
In the late 1950's positive pressure ventilators, which force air into the lungs, were introduced. Like their predecessors, modern ventilators function to deliver breaths of oxygen enriched air to the body and remove carbon dioxide. But unlike in the past, most ventilators today are computer controlled, functioning in complex ways to produce positive pressure ventilation that more closely matches a patients breathing needs. Until about the early 1990's, modern ventilators required an artificial airway, usually a tube placed through a hole surgically created into the patient's throat or a tube passed through the patient's nose or mouth. More recently, noninvasive position pressure ventilators that allow for gas exchange through a face or nose mask have become popular.
Ventilators can be used for neuromuscular disorders, respiratory disorders and bone disorders. The neuromuscular disorders are amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehring's disease), Guillain-Barre syndrome, infant botulism, muscular dystrophies, myasthenia gravis, polio and post-polio related problems, spinal muscular atrophy and spinal cord injuries. The respiratory disorders are chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (concurrent emphysema, asthma and bronchitis), Pierre Robin syndrome (jaw disorder in newborns in which the tongue may fall backwards, obstructing breathing), cystic fibrosis, severe pneumonia and lung and chest injuries. The bone disorders are severe kyphoscoliosis (unusual curvatore of the spine), deformities of the chest wall and surgical removal or severe fracturing of ribs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous innovations for respiratory treatment devices have been provided in the prior art that will be described. Even though these innovations may be suitable for the specific individual purposes to which they address, however, they differ from the present invention.
A FIRST EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 3,990,442, Issued on Nov. 9, 1976, to Patneau teaches a device for the treatment of pulmonary ailments that includes an intermittent constant pressure breathing apparatus which simultaneously provides both humidified air and a nebulized medicant through a single breathing tube. The device is characterized as being very compact and portable and is adaptable to several modes of operation, including supplying humidified air alone, providing nebulized medicant alone, or simultaneously providing nebulized, humidified air and medicant. Various modes of operation may also include providing intermittent positive pressure breathing to a patient.
A SECOND EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,609, Issued on Feb. 21, 1989, to Roberts et al. teaches a novel ventilating system for human patients that includes a nebulizing means for nebulizing a liquid medication into a supply of humidified breathable gas under pressure. The nebulizing means comprises a nebulizing module having a cap portion to which is attached a vial-like nebulizing chamber. In order to maintain the hermetic integrity of the system a two-position, flow control valve assembly is operatively connected to and in selective flow communication with, a lower region of the vial-like, liquid-retention nebulizing chamber. The valve assembly is configured so that it can be manually actuated between a first position precluding access to the chamber or a second position for drainage of liquid from within the nebulizer chamber or addition of liquid to such chamber while maintaining system sealing and pressure. A liquid handling means such as a syringe is used to control withdrawal or addition of liquid.
A THIRD EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,439, Issued on Aug. 7, 1990, to Eggers teaches a dual source parenteral infusion system that includes a primary controller which controls the flow rate of a parenteral solution, a display which displays parameters associated with the delivery of a primary solution, and pushbuttons for entering solution delivery parameters into the controller. The primary controller communicates with a secondary infusion module which is programmed to deliver solution from a secondary source, with the flow rate being controlled by the primary controller. The secondary infusion module includes a display for displaying parameters associated with the delivery of the secondary solution and a drop detector, and mounts about a drip chamber for the secondary solution. The module may also include pushbuttons for entering fluid delivery parameters for the secondary solution into the module.
A FOURTH EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,175, Issued on Jan. 11, 1994, to Riggs et al. teaches a continuous flow nebulizing device for patients receiving long term nebulized medicant respiratory therapy. The nebulizing device comprises a nebulizer vial through which nebulizing fluids are delivered from a large supply vessel to conventional nebulizing apparatus. Thereby, the nebulizing apparatus connected to the continuously replenished nebulizer vial, delivers a larger volume of nebulized medicants on a continuous basis to a patient than can be provided by a conventional nebulizer vial without removing the conventional nebulizer vial from the nebulizer. For critically ill patients, the nebulizing device is used as part of a nebulizer/ventilator circuit. For voluntary respiratory patients, the nebulizer device output is used without a ventilator. Medicant supplying circuits are provided whereby a single medicant is selectably delivered from a plurality of large supply vessels without disconnecting the nebulizing vial from the nebulizer. Liquid level control circuits are provided whereby the level of liquid in the nebulizer vial is electrically or fluidically controlled. Nebulizing gas flow, synchronized with inhalation and exhalation rates, provides a plurality of options of aerosolized mist production patterns. Such synchronization is defined by a ventilator. An add-site device which provides direct access by a syringe needle into the nebulizer vial for addition of medicants and withdrawal of fluid is disclosed. Adjustable temperature control is provided for ventilating and nebulizeable fluids.
A FIFTH EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 5,355,872, Issued on Oct. 18, 1994, to Riggs et al. teaches a nebulizer device, comprising a housing defining an interior volume therewithin, including a reservoir portion for holding medicament therein for entrainment into a carrier gas to form a delivery gas mixture comprising nebulized medicament and carrier gas; a discharge port connected to the housing in flow communication with the interior volume therewithin, for discharging the delivery gas mixture from the housing; a jet passage member having an inlet portion for introduction of carrier gas thereinto and a nozzle portion positioned in the interior volume of the housing for discharging carrier gas in jet form in the interior volume, for entrainment of medicament from the reservoir portion of the housing in the carrier gas jet, such nozzle portion comprising a nozzle orifice accommodating carrier gas flow therethrough, wherein the nozzle orifice has an equivalent orifice diameter in the range of from about 0.005 inch to about 0.020 inch.
It is apparent now that numerous innovations for respiratory treatment devices have been provided in the prior art that are adequate for various purposes. Furthermore, even though these innovations may be suitable for the specific individual purposes to which they address, accordingly, they would not be suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described.